Welcome to this edition of our Business Performance newsletter. We especially extend a warm welcome to our new subscribers. This month, we feature our newest Business Performance blog author, Katherine Duffy. Katherine has a lot to say about how to improve the performance management systems and processes in your organization. This month, she kicks off with some key tips on getting dysfunctional teams working again. Check out her informative article below.

Last month, we continued our discussion on the latest research on employee engagement. This month, we focus on building employee capability. Improving employee motivation and commitment means little if we do not help them develop the skills they need to operate at peak performance. Here are some highlights from our latest tips on employee learning:

Linking Training to Business Results
Trainers sometimes ask how they can link the impact of a training program to actual business results. Drawing an impact map with the key stakeholders is a sure-fire method for connecting the dots between training and business outcomes.

Coaching and Training Transfer
Are coaching and skills transfer to the job natural cousins? Does it go without saying that a properly coached person will automatically behave differently (and better) on the job? The GROW Model of coaching provides a structure supporting changing behaviors on the job.

Methods for Isolating Impact of Training
Many trainers get very stressed at the thought of objectively measuring the business impact of their training program. A prime cause of the stress is the difficulty of isolating the impact of the training program from other influences.

Do you need to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning function in your organization? Check out our Training
Management Maturity Model and Assessment Guide.
This benchmarking pack is designed for training professionals managing a training function and wanting to compare their
employee training processes with best practice.

The model's unique four phased approach
enables organizations to take a measured and staged approach to improving the training function. The pack includes
everything you need to conduct an evaluation, including assessment and reporting guide, customizable assessment form
and analysis and reporting sheets. Find out more about our Training
Management Maturity Model and download the free Maturity Chart and sample assessment today.

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Mark's a total jerk. He's always interrupting, and constantly argumentative - a real nightmare to be around. Jill's a scatterbrain. Not reliable, and always off track - a really hard person to maintain focus with. And you? Well, that's a whole other story. But bottom line; you do not work well together. And as much as it's killing your productivity, it's hurting your team even more.

If you think you can just work from home, put on headphones or book your day full of meetings to ignore this problem, you're taking a huge risk. According to a recent study by Leadership IQ, 87% of employees say their coworkers' performance has made them want to change jobs. Where, on the other hand, happy employees go the extra mile and spend more than 80% of their week on work. The point is clear - you have to find a way to work better together, or your goals won't be met.

Getting on track in a dysfunctional team can be tough. Arguments, tension and animosity are not the backdrop required for a team to feel safe, creative and bold. High performing teams all over the world have learned that respect and reciprocity are keys to team success - but how can you promote these traits in an environment where there is no trust?

Our 5 C's of teamwork may help:

1. Clarity - What's on your plate that's already using a good chunk of your day? What blockers could your teammates help you with? What opportunities are there for you to use skills you've been waiting to showcase? Adding visibility into the tasks, goals and obstacles in your project help everyone appreciate the workloads and priorities of others. By clearly communicating what your priorities are, and what you're doing about them, your whole team is on the same page - and debates about task ownership and deadlines can become a thing of the past.

If you or your managers are struggling with bringing about change in your organization, then check out our Managing Change in the Workplace. This acclaimed resource will guide you through every step of the change process with a wealth of worksheets, checklists and tools. Supplementing our hands on approach is our unique change process model that makes sense out of the seeming chaos. Download the free introductory chapter and start using Managing Change in the Workplace today!

"To date, Managing Change in the Workplace is the best resource I have found anywhere to help me do my work. I am more confident when I approach assignments now than I had ever been before. I would recommend the guide to anyone involved in change management without any reservations."

We are pleased to announce this month the release of new versions of three of our products. The newly released Third Editions of our highly popular Training Management Template Pack and our Training Projects Template Pack sport many new enhancements and the addition of new templates and forms.

Training Management Template Pack

Many training professionals seek to supplement their internally developed programs with programs sourced from outside of their organization. Buying a program from an external training provider, though, is fraught with uncertainty. How do you decide which is the vendor best able to meet your organization's needs? To help you make the right choice, we have added a vendor interview form with structured questions and a powerful vendor selection decision matrix.

The complete pack features 22 customizable templates to help you manage training through all phases of your training administration and evaluation cycle. It also includes a comprehensive User Guide, instructions for each template and BONUS tool for diagnosing employee performance problems. Visit the Training Management Template Pack product page to find out more.

Training Projects Template Pack

To this latest edition, we have now added a sample Training Project Definition. Many customers requested help with creating a Definition document additional to the guides included with the pack. We have heard your call. In addition, meetings are the life blood of any project. It is in project meetings that critical decisions are made, reports tabled, plans reviewed and actions followed up. We have now added two important meeting templates with guidance notes to help you create your meeting agenda and record meeting minutes.

The complete pack features 20 templates and guides to help you manage your training program design, development and delivery through all phases of your training project. It also includes a comprehensive User Guide, instructions for each template and BONUS project scorecard. Visit the Training Projects Template Pack product page to find out more.

Yes, you can still save 40% of the purchase price by buying the bundle of both template packs. Purchase both template packs now for the one bundle price of US $112.

In this release of our Project Scorecard, we have added a BONUSPost-Implementation Review Form at no additional cost. You can now gauge the satisfaction of your project team in a number of key areas. Find out important learnings that you can apply to future projects and measure team satisfaction all in one form. Then insert the team satisfaction value directly into the Scorecard. The concise but powerful Scorecard helps you monitor and report project performance in five key result areas:

Customers who purchased a previous release of one of these three products after 1st July 2010 are eligible to receive the new version at no extra cost. Visit the product's web page for more details. Our May Product Catalogue in PDF format is now out. Download the May Catalogue now.

Visit our web site at www.businessperform.com for lots of expert guidance and practical tools designed to help you get ahead of your competition. Also, be sure to pass this newsletter on to friends and colleagues who want to stay up with what's on. From all of us here on the Business Performance team, we wish you a productive month and look forward to communicating with you again soon.